The Imports
Encyclopedia
One of Chicago's first punk rock bands, The Imports influenced the burgeoning midwest alternative music scene in 1980, out of which sprang acts such as Big Black
, Ministry (band)
, Naked Raygun
, and Urge Overkill
. In a response to a solicitation for information on people, bands, clubs, zines, etc., for a Chicago Punk History Radio Documentary in 2006, Steve Albini of Big Black
posted a concise response listing The C*nts, The Imports, Coolest Retard, Wax Trax, and WZRD
. Members of The Imports later went on to play with the Vagueleys, Silly Carmichaels (a pre-Ministry Al Jourgensen project)Ministry, early history. Retrieved on September 26, 2011, Sharkey's Machine, ¡Ack-Ack!, The Arms of Someone New, Split Heavens, Sylvia Darling and The Moon Seven Times.
in the quiet and tree-lined neighborhood of Hyde Park on the South Side of Chicago. Making up the core of the Imports were Ben Krug (vocals), Tom Krug (guitar) and Joe Strell (bass). Like many bands, the Imports went through a series of drummers including John Krug, who helped establish the Imports as one of a precious few Chicago punk bands in early 1980, Alec Dale, who accompanied the outfit through its transition from punk rock
to post-punk
, and finally Tom Wall, who with his inimitable minimalism completed the band's singular sound that would prove to be decades ahead of its time, a sound commercially realized only in much later bands such as Interpol (band)
and The Strokes
.
During their brief career, the Imports played extensively throughout the limited nightclub circuit of Chicago's underground music scene, a scene they shared with other Chicago punk rock
and/or new wave music
--the distinction was never that clear—bands such as Bohemia, C*nts, Da!, the Dadistics, Epicycle, the Ferraris, Heavy Manners, the Men, Naked Raygun, the Oil Tasters (from Milwaukee), Painter Band, Phil 'n' the Blanks, Poison Squirrel, Skafish
, Special Affect, Static Cling, the Subverts (from Rockford), the Sweatermen, the Throbbers, the Trouble Boys, and the Vaguelys. As Ken Mierzwa writes in Ephemeral Creation: Music and Art in Chicago, 1978-1982, "none of the first batch of local bands ever enjoyed more than regional success". The nightclubs in which The Imports played included The Lucky Number, Tuts, Jamie's Elsewhere, and Exit. Ironically, the majority of The Imports' band members were excluded from these venues on nights when they were not playing on account of being under the legal age for drinking, making it difficult for them to catch acts who weren't on the same bill.
Initially, the Imports played a quick pop punk set of originals inspired by late seventies American and British punk acts such as Iggy Pop
, the New York Dolls
, the Ramones
, the Sex Pistols
, The Clash
, and The Jam
. Their repertoire soon swelled to over sixty originals, few of which ran much longer than two minutes, if that. The songs were fast and to the point, their earnest vocals and basic harmonies backed by driving durms, a melodic three-string bass, and the grist of a Gibson SG Junior Les Paul pumped through a Fender Twin Reverb. However, soon after their Chicago debut at the club Ann Arkees on March 6, 1980, the Imports were to trade their high-intensity pop-punk bombast for a hypnotizing style wrought of brooding melancholy.
In a meeting with Paul Weller during The Jam's "Setting Sons" tour, on Friday, March 7, 1980, the Imports ran through a quick "unplugged" set of their material before the Jam played a gig in Old Chicago, a combination shopping mall and amusement park on the far south side. After hearing the Imports play, Paul said that they would go over well in England, and that they reminded him of Joy Division
and Gang of Four (band)
, which he recommended that the Imports check out. And so they did. Seeing the light (or dark) the Imports immediately tossed out their entire collection of punk originals and begin carving out their own niche in the post-punk landscape of the early 1980s, writing stark, mesmerizing compositions that relied not so much upon rapid chord changes but rather employed subtle differences in texture and voicing to convey an underlying message of existential angst and accompanying despair.
in the Imports rehearsal space in the basement of the Krug's home in Hyde Park. The recording engineer was Andrew Clark, guitarist and vocalist of the band Epicycle. In order to achieve some manner of separation between tracks, each member of the band was sequestered in his own corner of the basement. Recording lineup: Ben Krug (vocals), Tom Krug (guitar), Joe Strell (bass), Alec Dale (drums).
In addition to their single, the only other extent recordings of this band's extensive repertoire is a board tape made from their penultimate performance in December 1980 at Sammie's in Minneapolis, where they opened for the Jim Carroll Band, and a couple of rehearsal session tapes, recorded on a monophonic Sears tape recorder. In 2010, these historical tapes were re-mastered and released as a double-CD set.
Big Black
Big Black was an American punk rock band from Evanston, Illinois, active from 1981 to 1987. Founded by singer and guitarist Steve Albini, the band's initial lineup also included guitarist Santiago Durango and bassist Jeff Pezzati, both of Naked Raygun...
, Ministry (band)
Ministry (band)
Ministry is an American industrial metal band founded by lead singer Al Jourgensen in 1981. Originally a synthpop outfit, Ministry changed its style to industrial metal in the late 1980s. Ministry found mainstream success in the early 1990s with its most successful album Psalm 69: The Way to...
, Naked Raygun
Naked Raygun
Naked Raygun is a Chicago-based punk rock group. Initially active from 1980 to about 1992, Naked Raygun had several short-lived reunions afterwards and a full-time reformation in 2006....
, and Urge Overkill
Urge Overkill
Urge Overkill is an alternative rock band, formed in Chicago, United States, consisting of Nash Kato , and Eddie "King" Roeser . Their cover of Neil Diamond's song "Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon" appeared prominently in the movie Pulp Fiction, and became a hit in 1994...
. In a response to a solicitation for information on people, bands, clubs, zines, etc., for a Chicago Punk History Radio Documentary in 2006, Steve Albini of Big Black
Big Black
Big Black was an American punk rock band from Evanston, Illinois, active from 1981 to 1987. Founded by singer and guitarist Steve Albini, the band's initial lineup also included guitarist Santiago Durango and bassist Jeff Pezzati, both of Naked Raygun...
posted a concise response listing The C*nts, The Imports, Coolest Retard, Wax Trax, and WZRD
WZRD
WZRD is a student radio station licensed to Chicago, Illinois, USA, founded in 1974. The station serves the Chicago area. The station is currently owned by Northeastern Illinois University...
. Members of The Imports later went on to play with the Vagueleys, Silly Carmichaels (a pre-Ministry Al Jourgensen project)Ministry, early history. Retrieved on September 26, 2011, Sharkey's Machine, ¡Ack-Ack!, The Arms of Someone New, Split Heavens, Sylvia Darling and The Moon Seven Times.
History
In the fall of 1979, during a time when mainstream radio charted hits by Peaches & Herb ("Reunited"), Rod Stewart ("Do Ya Think I'm Sexy"), and the Bee Gees ("Too Much Heaven"), The Imports forged their unique brand of post-punkPost-punk
Post-punk is a rock music movement with its roots in the late 1970s, following on the heels of the initial punk rock explosion of the mid-1970s. The genre retains its roots in the punk movement but is more introverted, complex and experimental...
in the quiet and tree-lined neighborhood of Hyde Park on the South Side of Chicago. Making up the core of the Imports were Ben Krug (vocals), Tom Krug (guitar) and Joe Strell (bass). Like many bands, the Imports went through a series of drummers including John Krug, who helped establish the Imports as one of a precious few Chicago punk bands in early 1980, Alec Dale, who accompanied the outfit through its transition from punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
to post-punk
Post-punk
Post-punk is a rock music movement with its roots in the late 1970s, following on the heels of the initial punk rock explosion of the mid-1970s. The genre retains its roots in the punk movement but is more introverted, complex and experimental...
, and finally Tom Wall, who with his inimitable minimalism completed the band's singular sound that would prove to be decades ahead of its time, a sound commercially realized only in much later bands such as Interpol (band)
Interpol (band)
Interpol is an American indie rock and post-punk revival band from New York City. Formed in 1997, the band's original line-up consisted of Paul Banks , Daniel Kessler , Carlos Dengler and Greg Drudy . Drudy left the band in 2000 and was replaced by Sam Fogarino...
and The Strokes
The Strokes
The Strokes are an American indie rock band formed in 1999 in New York City. Consisting of Julian Casablancas , Nick Valensi , Albert Hammond, Jr. , Nikolai Fraiture and Fabrizio Moretti ....
.
During their brief career, the Imports played extensively throughout the limited nightclub circuit of Chicago's underground music scene, a scene they shared with other Chicago punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
and/or new wave music
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
--the distinction was never that clear—bands such as Bohemia, C*nts, Da!, the Dadistics, Epicycle, the Ferraris, Heavy Manners, the Men, Naked Raygun, the Oil Tasters (from Milwaukee), Painter Band, Phil 'n' the Blanks, Poison Squirrel, Skafish
Skafish
Skafish is a Chicago punk band, fronted by Jim Skafish, cousin of Chicago area DJ Bobby Skafish. The band was formed in 1976 and had their first performance that November....
, Special Affect, Static Cling, the Subverts (from Rockford), the Sweatermen, the Throbbers, the Trouble Boys, and the Vaguelys. As Ken Mierzwa writes in Ephemeral Creation: Music and Art in Chicago, 1978-1982, "none of the first batch of local bands ever enjoyed more than regional success". The nightclubs in which The Imports played included The Lucky Number, Tuts, Jamie's Elsewhere, and Exit. Ironically, the majority of The Imports' band members were excluded from these venues on nights when they were not playing on account of being under the legal age for drinking, making it difficult for them to catch acts who weren't on the same bill.
Initially, the Imports played a quick pop punk set of originals inspired by late seventies American and British punk acts such as Iggy Pop
Iggy Pop
Iggy Pop is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Though considered an innovator of punk rock, Pop's music has encompassed a number of styles over the years, including pop, metal, jazz and blues...
, the New York Dolls
New York Dolls
The New York Dolls is an American rock band, formed in New York in 1971. The band's protopunk sound prefigured much of what was to come in the punk rock era; their visual style influenced the look of many new wave and 1980s-era glam metal groups, and they began the local New York scene that later...
, the Ramones
Ramones
The Ramones were an American rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first punk rock group...
, the Sex Pistols
Sex Pistols
The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band that formed in London in 1975. They were responsible for initiating the punk movement in the United Kingdom and inspiring many later punk and alternative rock musicians...
, The Clash
The Clash
The Clash were an English punk rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk. Along with punk, their music incorporated elements of reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap, dance, and rockabilly...
, and The Jam
The Jam
The Jam were an English punk rock/New Wave/mod revival band active during the late 1970s and early 1980s. They were formed in Woking, Surrey. While they shared the "angry young men" outlook and fast tempos of their punk rock contemporaries, The Jam wore smartly tailored suits rather than ripped...
. Their repertoire soon swelled to over sixty originals, few of which ran much longer than two minutes, if that. The songs were fast and to the point, their earnest vocals and basic harmonies backed by driving durms, a melodic three-string bass, and the grist of a Gibson SG Junior Les Paul pumped through a Fender Twin Reverb. However, soon after their Chicago debut at the club Ann Arkees on March 6, 1980, the Imports were to trade their high-intensity pop-punk bombast for a hypnotizing style wrought of brooding melancholy.
In a meeting with Paul Weller during The Jam's "Setting Sons" tour, on Friday, March 7, 1980, the Imports ran through a quick "unplugged" set of their material before the Jam played a gig in Old Chicago, a combination shopping mall and amusement park on the far south side. After hearing the Imports play, Paul said that they would go over well in England, and that they reminded him of Joy Division
Joy Division
Joy Division were an English rock band formed in 1976 in Salford, Greater Manchester. Originally named Warsaw, the band primarily consisted of Ian Curtis , Bernard Sumner , Peter Hook and Stephen Morris .Joy Division rapidly evolved from their initial punk rock influences...
and Gang of Four (band)
Gang of Four (band)
Gang of Four are an English post-punk group from Leeds. Original personnel were singer Jon King, guitarist Andy Gill, bass guitarist Dave Allen and drummer Hugo Burnham. They were fully active from 1977 to 1984, and then re-emerged twice in the 1990s with King and Gill...
, which he recommended that the Imports check out. And so they did. Seeing the light (or dark) the Imports immediately tossed out their entire collection of punk originals and begin carving out their own niche in the post-punk landscape of the early 1980s, writing stark, mesmerizing compositions that relied not so much upon rapid chord changes but rather employed subtle differences in texture and voicing to convey an underlying message of existential angst and accompanying despair.
Releases
While together, The Imports released only one professional recording: a 7" single on Cirkle Records, published in 1980 with the songs "Visions of Reality" and "Darkness of Light" intentionally listed only as "Side One" and "Side Two", respectively. These songs were recorded on a four-track reel-to-reel tape recorderReel-to-reel audio tape recording
Reel-to-reel, open reel tape recording is the form of magnetic tape audio recording in which the recording medium is held on a reel, rather than being securely contained within a cassette....
in the Imports rehearsal space in the basement of the Krug's home in Hyde Park. The recording engineer was Andrew Clark, guitarist and vocalist of the band Epicycle. In order to achieve some manner of separation between tracks, each member of the band was sequestered in his own corner of the basement. Recording lineup: Ben Krug (vocals), Tom Krug (guitar), Joe Strell (bass), Alec Dale (drums).
In addition to their single, the only other extent recordings of this band's extensive repertoire is a board tape made from their penultimate performance in December 1980 at Sammie's in Minneapolis, where they opened for the Jim Carroll Band, and a couple of rehearsal session tapes, recorded on a monophonic Sears tape recorder. In 2010, these historical tapes were re-mastered and released as a double-CD set.